President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that he will visit Turkmenistan on March 21 to attend Norouz festival.
Talking to reporters after a cabinet session, the president said he is also scheduled to travel to Tajikistan, IRNA reported.
Norouz, meaning ‘new day’ in Persian, is celebrated by over 300 million people worldwide for nearly two weeks, beginning March 20 or 21.
In 2010, the UN declared Norouz as a global festival. The event marks the beginning of spring and the Iranian New Year. It is an ancient ritual dating back 2,500 years and is rooted in Zoroastrianism.
Commenting on talks between Iran and P5+1 in Almaty, Kazakhstan from February 26-27, Ahmadinejad said ‘talk is better than dispute’.
When the Iranian delegation returns home and presents a report about the talks, it will be reviewed, said the president.
Turning to his press conferences, he hoped to hold a news briefing with the country’s media before the start of Norouz.

Stuxnet Was Deployed Against Nuclear Sites in 2007

Researchers at a US security firm have uncovered an early version of the Stuxnet computer virus that was used to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Symantec said in a report on Tuesday that its researchers uncovered a piece of code, which they called ‘Stuxnet 0.5’, in November 2007, two years earlier than previously thought, Reuters reported.
The revelation means the US and Israel were working on the scheme long before it came to public notice in 2010.
Stuxnet 0.5 was written using much of the same code as Flame, according to Symantec’s report, another virus used against systems in Iran’s nuclear energy facilities.
Washington and Tel Aviv are believed to have jointly developed the malware, and that planning for the cyber weapon began at least as early as 2005.
“It is really mind blowing that they were thinking about creating a project like that in 2005,” said Symantec researcher Liam O’Murchu.
The new discovery shows that Stuxnet and other viruses were developed under the presidency of George W Bush.
Iran has been the target of several cyber attacks over the past few years.
Iranian officials have described the US and Israeli cyber attacks targeting the country’s peaceful nuclear program as a matter of global concern. Tehran has called for a new international legal instrument to counter the increasing wave of such attacks in the world.
In June 2012, a report by the Washington Post said the US and the Israeli regime had cooperated in creating the computer virus Flame to spy on Iran.
US National Security Agency, the CIA and the Israeli military worked together to create the Flame virus, the paper added.
In addition, the New York Times also revealed in the same month that US President Barack Obama secretly ordered a cyber attack with the Stuxnet computer virus against Iran in 2010 to sabotage the country’s nuclear energy program.

Iran Engineer Victim of Spain Injustice

An Iranian engineer, arrested in Spain in 2011 for alleged violation of UN embargos against Iran by purchasing a helicopter, says he feels incarcerated in a ‘big prison’ in Madrid due to the European country’s unjust treatment.
The Spanish court handling Alireza Valadkhani’s case has postponed until June 2013 a review of his case, meaning that he has to remain under house arrest up to that time, Press TV reported.
“The court has adjourned until June 2013 the hearing to consider my appeal for getting back my passport,” Valadkhani, the 54-year-old managing director of Heli Kish Company which provides heliborne services to Iranian oil companies, told IRNA in Madrid on Tuesday.
“Meanwhile 21 months after the case was filed, it is not clear when it will be reviewed and the investigative judge has not decided to refer it to court for hearing, or closing the case,” he added.
Valadkhani complained about his daily life restrictions in a country like Spain because he is not holding a passport or residence permit, noting that he has been denied all social rights and services including health insurance coverage, bank account, work permit, travelling out of the capital and other basic human rights.
The Iranian businessman, who is facing mental and psychological problems, is suffering due to separation from his family, noting that he is shouldering the heavy financial burden of the proceedings on his own.
Officials of the Spanish company, which sold the helicopter to Valadkhani in violation of the UN embargoes, have been released without posting bail a long time ago, but Valadkhani was released from solitary confinement only after posting 500,000 euros as bail.
In a recent meeting with Iran’s Ambassador to Madrid Morteza Saffari, Spain’s Attorney General Eduardo Torres-Dulce admitted that his country’s judicial authorities have been dragging feet on handling Valadkhani’s case.

Kerry Sees ‘Diplomatic Path’

US Secretary of State John Kerry insisted on Tuesday there was a ‘diplomatic path’ to be forged with Iran on its nuclear program, as world powers and Tehran held talks.
“There is a diplomatic path,” said Kerry after meeting his German counterpart Guido Westerwelle in Berlin.
He expressed ‘hope’ that ‘Iran itself will make its choice to move down the path of a diplomatic solution’, Reuters reported.
The five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany--the so-called P5+1--met the Iranian team headed by top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in Kazakhstan.
Iran and the P5+1 group wrapped up their first round of talks in Kazakhstan’s biggest city, Almaty, with each side offering its own package of proposals.
Kerry said it ‘would really be a mistake in the middle of the talks for me to try to talk at any length about what the dynamics of those talks are’.
“I want these talks to have their chance to work through before I comment,” added the secretary.
Nevertheless, he urged Tehran to accept the offer of western powers, saying they included ‘reciprocal measures that encourage Iran to make concrete steps in order to begin addressing the international community’s concerns’.
Westerwelle for his part said the talks were ‘an opportunity that I really hope the Iranians will take’.
“Our goal is a diplomatic solution in the nuclear argument with Iran but there must be substantial progress because a nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable to us,” added the minister.
Washington and its western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations.
Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
The two-day meeting in the Kazakh city of Almaty comes as sanctions were imposed against the Islamic Republic and Israel still refuses to rule out air strikes to knock out Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons drive.

US Lawmakers Move to Tighten Sanctions
Reuters reported that US lawmakers plan to tighten economic sanctions against Tehran over the country’s nuclear energy program as Iran and the group of six major world powers held talks in Kazakhstan.
It reported that a bill, slated to be introduced in the Congress on Wednesday, would enable US President Barack Obama to ‘impose financial penalties on foreign companies and entities that provide Iran with goods that are critical to its economy’.
The bill is also designed to force countries like China to buy less Iranian crude oil, according to a copy of the legislation obtained by Reuters on Tuesday.
The measure, that expands current sanctions imposed against Iran, also attempts to cut off the country’s access to hard currencies such as the euro by pressuring EU to block Iran from the European Central Bank’s payment system.
In a letter to President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy on Monday, 36 US senators urged to union to close ‘a significant loophole in US-EU sanctions policy’ in order to increase pressures against Iran.
“We strongly urge you to take all the necessary measures to cut off Iran’s ability to use its foreign-held euros,” the Financial Times quoted the letter as saying.

Leader Urges Pakistan...

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Zardari is accompanied by a number of Pakistani officials including oil minister and senior foreign ministry deputies.
The Pakistani president is scheduled to confer with high-ranking Iranian officials including Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei during his stay in Tehran.
Zardari spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said that during the visit, the president will hold talks with Iranian leadership on a host of bilateral issues and the regional situation.
He said that the visit was part of ongoing contacts at the leadership level to further strengthen bilateral relations and to consult each other on regional and international issues of concern to the two countries. He said that the president has been urging for further strengthening of bilateral relations and for early completion of the mega projects between the two countries. He hoped that the visit would lend further impetus to efforts aimed at early completion of the bilateral projects.
The spokesperson said in a statement that the visit is a manifestation of the great importance Pakistan attaches to relations with Iran.

FM in Vienna for UNAOC

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi arrived in the Austrian capital on Wednesday to attend the 5th Global Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC).
Salehi will attend the 5th Global Forum of the UNAOC, entitled ‘Responsible Leadership in Diversity and Dialog’, which will be held on February 27-28 in Vienna, IRNA reported.
Austrian media referred to Salehi, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as three significant figures participating in the event.
In addition to the UN chief and the Turkish premier, the forum is to be attended by heads of the structure, President of Austria Heinz Fischer, Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia and other heads of state and international organizations.
Established in 2005, the AOC is one of the UN affiliated bodies which seeks to galvanize international action against extremism by forging international, intercultural and interreligious dialog and cooperation.
Leaders of 135 countries are expected to attend the Vienna forum which is to discuss major issues including immigration, convergence, freedom of religion and the role and status of media.

Suspicious Moves In Presidential Polls Under Scrutiny

Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi said his forces are closely watching possible seditionist moves during the upcoming presidential election due to be held in Iran in June.
Asked about the Intelligence Ministry’s measures to monitor possible seditionist moves in the presidential election, Moslehi told reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday, “The Intelligence Ministry is conducting meticulous monitoring in this regards,” Fars News Agency reported.
Iranian officials have on many occasions warned that enemies are trying to hatch plots to create a chaotic atmosphere in the upcoming presidential election in Iran.
In January, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei warned that enemies have hatched plots to hinder mass participation of the Iranian nation in the upcoming presidential election, describing it as the ‘tangible’ goal of the enemies.
Iran’s eleventh presidential elections will be held on June 14, 2013.
Also in December, Interior Ministry said that it is closely watching all activities related to the upcoming presidential election throughout the country.

Ex-FM Announces Candidacy

Former foreign minister Manoucher Mottaki has announced his readiness to be a candidate in the next presidential election slated for June 14, 2013.